Dulce et decorum est: War and Anti-War Poetry

Soldiers have been writing poetry glorifying or abhorring war for as long as there have been soldiers and wars. Others have written poems lamenting war's inhumanity and its wastes every bit as long. I guess the best we can do is work toward the day when neither will be necessary.

Below you will find poetry occasioned by war from the Harris County Public Library Catalog.

Dulce et decorum est is the title of a poem written during World War I by Wilfred Owen. He uses the full phrase to close the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori which is usually translated to English as "How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country." The line originates in a poem by the Roman Horace.

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